Istanbul: Care Racing preview

With only four points separating the top three teams in the GT1 category of
the Le Mans Endurance Series, it is certain that one of the three Care
Racing-supported teams will be crowned Champion in Turkey next weekend.
It will be the second ...

With only four points separating the top three teams in the GT1 category of
the Le Mans Endurance Series, it is certain that one of the three Care
Racing-supported teams will be crowned Champion in Turkey next weekend.

It will be the second consecutive year that a Ferrari 550 Maranello will
take the title, and there is all to play for amongst the teams and their
drivers. 2003 and 2004 FIA GT Champions, BMS Scuderia Italia, currently
lead the Russian-backed Convers team by just one point and the Czech MenX
team is only three points behind the British-managed outfit so the
competition for victory will be fierce.

All three teams have additions to their driver line-ups for Istanbul, and
the three 'new' faces are all highly experienced and will be sure to
contribute to the tension and excitement of the title chase for the Drivers'
Championship.

Fabio Babini of Faenza, a long-time Pirelli associate, will with Miguel
Ramos of Portugual be helping 2004 Italian F3 Champion Matteo Cressoni try
and realise his dream of winning the Drivers' Championship in only his first
season in international sports car racing. Babini's experience of Istanbul
from the FIA GT round in September will be vital. Cressoni currently heads
the classification by just one point from Convers drivers Christophe Bouchut
and Alexey Vasiliev who will be benefiting from the talents and experience
of Briton Darren Turner in their bid for the top step of the podium.

Michele Bartyan, Christian Pescatori and Toni Seiler of BMS are one point
adrift of the French/Russian partnership, while Robert Pergl of MenX is only
three behind. The Czech driver, winner at Silverstone in August, has
secured the much sought-after services of Pedro Lamy for the final round.
The Portuguese driver will be joining Pergl and his Aston Martin team-mate,
Peter Kox, in the line up and has already driven at the new Istanbul track
in the FIA GT Larbre Ferrari 550, so should be on the pace straight away.

The Prodrive-developed, Care Racing-owned Ferrari 550 Maranello has been one
of the most successful European GT1 cars in recent times, with 47 class wins
and three international Championships in the last four years. It is a
tribute to all who have been involved with the project that the car
continues to win in almost every Championship in which it is entered,
despite little development since 2003.